


Handcrafted Runes

by Amaru_Katari



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Comic Book Science, Loki (Marvel) is a Good Bro, Loki and Thor Are Not Related, M/M, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Captain America: The Winter Soldier Compliant, Not Thor: Ragnarok (2017) Compliant, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, Tony is an Aesir, loki is a human
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2020-02-04 11:30:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18603643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amaru_Katari/pseuds/Amaru_Katari
Summary: Loki has always considered himself too much of an atheist to start worshiping a god that has come to Earth just to visit.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [STARSdidathing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/STARSdidathing/gifts).
  * Inspired by [For Happiness and Love](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17031162) by [STARSdidathing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/STARSdidathing/pseuds/STARSdidathing). 



> I watched Endgame yesterday. Obviously, I will not make spoilers, but I'm just gonna say that that was a rollercoaster that I didn't expect. That said, I'm going to completely ignore some parts of IW and Endgame because... just because. 
> 
> Also, Endgame is the reason why I'm publishing this. I was going to start just after I had written the fifth chapter (I got stuck in the middle of the fourth) but... but.... Oh, gods, that movie... I need something that takes my mind out of that movie.
> 
> Anyway, this was inspired by STARSdidathing's "For Happiness and Love" which was gifted for a friend of mine, though it was my prompt :'( (I'm the friend~ :P)
> 
> I hope you like it, I like the role reversal AU (sometimes) and I wanted to go ahead and write something like it, but I had no idea on how to write this ship. So, that's why I'm just publishing right now. That, and I had been very, very busy... I have been neglecting all my stories :(

Loki carved the last rune on his helmet and grinned at his handiwork, turning it this way and that, trying to determine if there was any chance that someone (namely, Natasha Romanov) could suspect something of the intricate lines that covered the piece. It looked elegant and not magical at all, which was kind of a necessity, given that not even SHIELD knew that it was more than his reflexes that kept him out of the line of fire sometimes, or that his oh-so-very-advanced electromagnetic field was a sphere of magical energy.

  
He was the Sorcerer Supreme, a master of the mystic arts, the protector of the eye of Agamotto, but he also happened to be a billionaire genius who was the visible head of one of the most important companies in the world.

  
And lately, a super hero.

  
He didn’t mind that it was thought that Iron man was a technological advanced armor that could put on its knees the army of a small country, because _it was_ , but there were few people who knew that his armor also amalgamated the Eldritch powers that few could conjure with technology.

  
Nonetheless, he thought it best that the extent of his capabilities were thought just those of a very intelligent baseline human. Compared to literal gods and other enhanced, people tended to see him as a less worrying target. It always worked on his favor.

  
“SIGYN, dear” he called smiling broadly towards one of the cameras that littered his lab “Could you start the graphing of the gauntlets? I want to see if we can finish this before Thor comes back”

  
“Of course, Loki” the AI had a British accent, and the voice and cadence of a young woman “Mister Rogers says he wants to discuss something with you before Mister Odinson arrives. Do you want me to tell him something?”

  
Loki felt his lips twist into a sneer. Not that he didn’t like the Captain. He was just too _sanctimonious_ , maybe too prone to think too highly of himself and look at others (Loki) as if he had a better moral standing to judge from, and they clashed enough that Loki preferred to limit his taunting when he wanted to amuse himself, and keep his distance when he was in a good mood.

  
Like today.

  
Today Thor was supposed to come back from Asgard, and Loki was itching to show the other man his new armor, and then, maybe go sparring, or flying, or anything.

  
Ever since they had meet, just before the battle of New York, they had formed an easy and strong friendship, very different of those that Loki had before, and he cherished it more than he could express with words.

  
But not even his _bromanceship_ with Thor would make him go and wait for him with the Captain.

  
“Tell him I’m very, _very_ , busy, but that you can take his requests to me” still with the helmet in his hands, he pushed himself from the work table with his feet, and his not-at-all-ergonomic office chair (the one that Pepper had warned would be burned if she got the chance) squeaked as he twirled across the lab, at least until he jumped out of the battered chair, sending it tumbling towards a wall, whilst he made an exaggerated bow at having landed on his feet towards the cameras. “Meanwhile, I will go to check on my suffering apprentice”

  
“Take care, Loki” the AI said good-naturedly, while Loki looked for his sling ring under a few books that were scattered on another table “Your ring is in the left pocket of your lab coat. And, please, tell mister Strange to come visit soon”

  
Loki, who was now rummaging in the pockets of his lab coat, shot one of the cameras an offended look “Should I be jealous? Yes, I will tell Strange that you miss him. But…” he said, interrupting whatever his AI was going to say with a raised finger, opening a portal to the empty hall of the New York Sanctum “… I want you to keep an eye opened to the Bifrost. Lets see if I finally got an early alarm for that thing”

  
“Yes, Loki” said the AI, watching as the engineer disappeared in the middle of golden and green sparkles, and turning her attention to the satellites that Loki Stark had for no other use than looking at the Rainbow Bridge.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> II had been so (so) busy. Also, I hate bureaucracy, but, this is an important 'but', I got a scholarship for my master.
> 
> I'm hella scared.
> 
> And that's why I just came back... yesterday. To actualize another thing. 
> 
> I still have to actualize "Family", buuuut I will be traveling tomorrow and I'm not entirely sure if I will have internet. So there.

Stephen Strange was making himself tea when Loki stumbled into the kitchen.

  
“You have a kid”

  
“Hi, Loki, is good to see you too”

  
“Yes, hi” said a disgruntled Loki, crossing his arms over his chest “You got a kid in the Sanctum”

  
“Her name is Illyana Rasputin” said Stephen impassibly, stirring his cup without looking at Loki “And she’s hardly a ‘ _kid_ ’. She’s fifteen, a teenager”

  
“Still, she was born in this century, that counts as a ‘kid’”

  
Stephen looked at the other man with a glare “It is better than you taking Peter Parker as your replacement?”

  
Loki gasped dramatically, clutching at his chest as if hurt “He is no replacement. Nobody could _replace_ me”

  
It was very clear that Strange wanted to either facepalm or drown Loki in his cup, but he sighed and took a fortifying sip when he noticed the smirk on his friends' face, and sat down tiredly in one of the chairs that were behind the kitchen table.

  
“She escaped a demon who had trapped her in another dimension. She… She already possesses and controls magic, -though her powers not only reduce themselves to that- and I wanted to help her”

  
“And that explains why she reeks of dark magic” Loki sat down across Stephen and crossed his legs, watching the former doctor with a raised eyebrow “Does she has a family? Why do you offered your help?, if my math is not wrong (and believe me, it never is), until a few days ago she was a unknown menace that was terrifying the sorcerers all the way from Arizona”

  
“And it was by mistake” Strange looked tired saying this, -Loki got the impression that maybe Wong had been hounding him for it- and he took to mess his hair with one hand under Loki’s attentive gaze “she is too used to being attacked to not think of any inquisitive magic thrown her way as dangerous. She’s getting better”

  
“Don’t think I didn’t notice the burned rugs” warned Loki, who was picking on his nails with disinterest “Why do you took her here? She must have family”

  
“She doesn’t want to go back to them. She thinks she’s too dangerous” Stephen peered from in between his fingers at Loki, who had stopped trying to pick the cuticle of his index finger to look at him.

  
“Really? With that surname I would assume they would be very difficult to kill”

  
“Not funny, asshole” Loki raised both eyebrows, clearly amused “And… And I wanted to prepare her to take my place”

  
“What?” in any other moment, Stephen would have gloated on being the one who put that gobsmacked expression on the other man’s face, though it was short-lived, because Loki spluttered, eyes wide open “Why? This…” he then made a wide gesture with his arm that encompassed the old kitchen “ _This_ is our duty!”

  
“I know. But I want to retire someday” at this point Stephen was trying to illustrate the point with lazy hand waves “I don’t want to be always trying to save the world of one menace or the other. I want to live without having to worry of the next big bad that will come to our doors, and be able to do my own thing” he sighed, and looked at Loki, trying to search some kind of empathy “I thought you, more than anyone else, would understand”

  
“Yes” he lied, because he remembered Pym telling him about Ultron, and how he had immediately jumped intro the project because he knew the Avengers weren’t enough. Loki -as Howard had been so fond of telling him- was never enough, and the world deserved better than what little he could offer “Yes, I do”

  
“And she’s very capable” continued the other man, watching Loki for any kind of reaction “And her heart, even after everything she has lived through, is in a good place”

  
Loki hummed, not knowing what to say.

  
Both men had been acquaintances for a long time before Loki had offered to drive Stephen home after a party and got them both in the car accident that had marked the end of Loki’s alcoholism and Stephen’s career. He would be the first to admit that it had been guilt what had moved him to help the other man, but by the time he graced the doors of the Ancient One in search of another impossible answer that Strange wanted no part of, they had already formed a tentative friendship that had been strengthened during their time as her disciples, and that had survived even after he took the place of Sorcerer Supreme and then Ironman, and Stephen the one of the master and guardian of the New York Sanctum.

  
He took his duties as penitence for his faults, but was aware that Strange took them as his responsibility, and couldn’t fault him for wanting an out after everything they had gone through. He, on the other hand, had somewhat expected to die in one of the Avenger’s skirmishes, and go down to history as some sort of tragic hero.

  
“I will meditate on it” he heard himself saying, waving a hand to make the empty cup in Strange’s hands pop up into the air leaving a trace of green magic behind it on its bobbly path towards the sink “I will want to evaluate her, and we will have to make arrangements for your other students” Stephen started to frown, looking like he wanted to protest, but Loki didn’t let him interrupt “I will also talk with Wong, so that we can put a system to help her…”

  
“Loki” Stephen had that exasperated frown in his face “I’m training her. I will not let her take my place so suddenly”

  
“Oh”

  
“Yes, _‘Oh’_. And is a possibility. Yes, I want to retire, but I want to do it _someday_ , not the next week” he stood up and smiled fondly at Loki “it wouldn’t be a bad idea for you to have a retirement plan too. After all, _Master_ , as the Sorcerer Supreme you still need to take more apprentices, and, I would be lost without your guidance”

  
“Oh, admit it, you will miss my pretty face”

  
“I will admit you have a very _punchable_ face”

  
“Don’t deny it, you love me”

  
Loki had left shortly after, not without proving the wards around the sanctum, checking the ones near the Eye, and teasing Stephen (and his new little apprentice, who pouted and acted angry, whilst hiding her smiles with her blond hair) a little more, when SIGYN informed him that Thor had arrived without her having noticed anything.

  
He cursed while he conjured the portal towards his lab, and it was in his lab where his AI informed him that Thor hadn’t arrived alone.

  
“What?” he was trying to take the sling ring from his finger, where it was stubbornly stuck “Who came with him?”

  
“I don’t know, Loki” she sounded confused, and that alone made Loki frown “he emits a similar energy signature to yours or mister Strange’s”

  
“Shit” he should have noticed the newcomer, he reprimanded himself while throwing his ring somewhere near a work table, his wards (both technological and magical) were supposed to warn him. To know he had failed meant trouble. He ran towards the doors of the elevator, that opened instantly “take me to them, Gin”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stephen Strange introduced! 
> 
> I'm very excited because I have finally gotten around hypothetical screw ups within the plot I had formed (thus the changed tags).
> 
> There will be Tony in the next chapter (finally).


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah... I have no excuse.  
> Well. No. I _do_ have an excuse. But you know, I feel like I have failed in my quest to be a responsible author (or something like that)  
> Life in the UK is way better than expected, my University is wonderful, I'm learning new things everyday, I got tickets for Harry Potter's tour in London for my birthday, and I have a new-found fondness for tea. Also, a full-time master's degree in a foreing language, in one of the top Universities in the world is more work than what I had expected. Kidding. I knew I would forsake any sleeping when I got this spot.   
> Thus, pseudo-hiatus. Sorry.  
> Anyway. I will try to update as soon as I can... But I just wanted to post this chapter because  
>  ~~it's my favourite~~ I'm not sure when I will be able to do so again, _and_ I don't want anyone to believe that I forgot about my stories.   
> The only one that will suffer is _Family,_ because the usb where I had saved it suffered an accident.   
> 

When Loki arrived to the common room of the compound, the first thing he noticed was the bulky form of Thor, who was facing the Captain. The newcomer was not in his line of sight, but he knew by experience that it was very easy to be hidden in Thor’s shadow.

The man was enormous. That Loki was as lean as he was tall didn’t help matters.

“Loki!” the Aesir had noticed him and was walking towards him with open arms, and then embraced him “The Captain told us you weren’t here!” 

Loki felt as if his ribs were threatening to be squeezed out of his body, but he dutifully hugged Thor back and patted his back, all the while trying not to squirm, or gasp for air.

“Brother” a new, deep voice called from some point behind Thor “You are going to break the mortal”

Thor dropped him, the lack of air making little black spots appear in Loki’s vision.

“Nonsense” boomed Thor’s voice on his left, followed by a hefty slap on his back that almost knocked him to the floor, if not for the fact that he was almost immediately caught by the shoulder and squeezed to Thor’s side  “The Man of Iron is a strong warrior, he wouldn’t be bested by a measly greeting”

“Yes, it sure looks like it” the voice sounded sarcastic, and he could hear the badly disguised chortle from Rogers.

Finally clearing the spots that danced in front of his eyes, he directed an angry glare at the Captain -who was now looking towards the window, still trying to hid his laughter-, and then towards Thor’s guest.

The man was almost as tall as the Captain, had short, styled brown hair and goatee, and his brown eyes, fixed on Loki, sparkled with mischief. If not for the golden armor he wore, and the obviously magical spear in his hand, Loki would have sworn that he was anything but an Aesir, much less Thor’s…

“’Brother’?” he asked aloud, still out of sorts.

“ _My_ brother” was Thor’s answer “Anton Odinsson”

“I go by Tony” the man piped out, but was promptly ignored.

“He took the throne a few weeks back, after our father’s passing” explained Thor, though Loki was sure there was something more to it. He had heard about the so called Ragnarok that Thor’s sister, Hella, had instigated, but _still_ , he had thought that Thor was the heir to the throne because his brother wanted nothing to do with it. “And wanted to meet the defenders of Midgard and see for himself if they were as powerful as my accounts claimed, and to make a treaty to our extended fellowship”

“More like, I, as the new king, was trying to avoid drowning on paperwork and wanted to visit a planet with good plumbing” Tony extended a hand towards Loki. He was shaking hands with an Asgardian King. To think he had to practice his curtsies with Pepper when he had met the English Queen. How was this Loki’s life? “It has been centuries since I last came to this planet. It’s a nice thing what you have done with the buildings, shame about the toxic fumes and, you know, the _deforestation_ and what not…”

“That doesn’t explain the whole ‘fellowship’ thing” the expression on Rogers’ face alone told him he had talked without any kind of discretion - _again-_ , but Anton didn’t even bat an eye.

“Tony wanted to come because he thinks that he can make a better arrangement with your government in regards to our continued help” said man smiled at Thor and patted one of his arms.

“Our father always underestimated you as a whole, and I won’t commit the same mistake” the man’s eyes seemed to darken somewhat for a second, but the next he brightened again, clapped his hands together and looked around the room before zeroing his gaze on Loki “But I know your potential, and I believe that in this new era you need information that would be unavailable otherwise, not a paternalistic shield between Midgard and the rest of the Universe. That, and I want a taste of the _Midgard charm_ that has done _so_ well to my brother”

Loki was just starting to mirror the smirk in the King’s lips, when Thor jumped between them.

“Of course!” Thor quickly took his brother’s arm, dragging him out in direction of the kitchen “I’m sure the Vision would be happy to help”. Loki was left blinking listlessly while their bickering started to lose volume for a good few moments before a door was closed and silence took over the place.

“Loki” Rogers’ voice was always stern when it was directed at him, and this time was no exception. “I have to warn you: don’t do anything that could put the wellbeing of the rest of the Avengers, mankind or the world in jeopardy. The King is not someone you can manipulate without consequences, and you should not forget that”

“O, Captain, my Captain” he singsonged mockingly “When have I failed you?”

The man’s jaw took that rigid look that spoke of clenched teeth and that it’s owner was thinking of an answer that wasn’t overtly rude.

“I don’t trust you, Loki” 

Rogers didn’t look back towards the other man before exiting the common room in the same direction Thor and Tony had taken. In the empty room, Loki plopped down in one of the couches, looking morosely at the white ceiling.

“As if that was surprising”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I imagine this Tony as a mix between 616!Tony and MCU!Tony. At least in the height he's purely 616... The relative age is another matter (Tony here looks a little older than Thor, but no more than maybe five years)  
> Regarding the name: I did a very sloopy research, and got that _Anton_ is a more Northen European version of the otherwise Roman-ish _Anthony._ He still goes by Tony because Anton is an old-man's name, but whatever.  
> Also, when Thor moves Asgard to Oklahoma (yes, that happened) there's a short moment in which the inhabitants of Asgard go to meet their human neighbors in a town meeting that reveals that Aesir have the habit of throwing their waste over the city's walls because they don't have propper plumbing. I trust you understand that I had to include that.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay. I need to build this correctly, so that's why it will be a little bit slow. I truly hope it's somewhat good.
> 
> I'm not a native speaker. Please, if you notice any typo, let me know.


End file.
